Tax HELP!!

[paysensmom]

We got our tax appraisal. It stated that our house apreciated over 18,000 for this year from last

I know the appraisal for tax assessment is different than the appraisal when you buy a house.

I filled out the form and took it to the tax office to appeal.
They told me to bring in my settlement form from when we purchased the house since we just bought it in June of 08'
Well, it is WAY higher than their appraisal and I think they know that.

What can I do? This tax increase is raising my payment by 100 dollars per month

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[adisneymama]

If it is anything like here in Houston, get your realtor to pull comps in the area. Then you get a price per sq ft and multiply that by your sq footage. Once you have that all in hand, you show all of it as your proof. Here in Houston we are able to file online. Glad you posted as dh needs to fight ours as well. G/L!

 

[MickeyMickey]

Here (Iowa) the value is reset the year following the sale, based on the purchase price. Therefore if more was paid that it was currently assessed it would be an automatic bump up. Sounds like this may be what they are doing since they are asking for a settlement statement.

 

[adventure_woman]

I am in MI, and I know that when you buy the house is really the only time they can really 'up' the taxes (other than that there is a cap on the increase, unless you make some big improvement/addition on the house). How long did the previous owners of the house own it? If it was a long time, your taxes probably will go up a lot.

That stinks, I'm sorry!

 

[paysensmom]

I think they were here for three years. This is CRAZY. We already have a SUPER high payment. We will be hurting having to pay 100 more just for taxes per month

 

[CyndiLooWho]

It sounds like your tax assessment is less than your closing price in 2008. If that is true, you really have no recourse, and should be very happy that they are not assessing it at what you paid.

Your escrow agent should have already been accruing taxes based on the purchase price anyway, so it's unlikely your payments will accelerate.

We bought our house in '08 too, and had a laugh about getting it reassessed, since surely the market has dropped again since our closing.

 

[HayGan]

It sounds like your tax assessment is less than your closing price in 2008. If that is true, you really have no recourse, and should be very happy that they are not assessing it at what you paid.

Since your sale is so recent (within a year) I really wouldn't push the issue. You should be thankful that they aren't assessing you at the price you paid for the home. I'm not sure why you think that you should not be assessed at the value of your home (aka - what you paid for it.)

(BTW, I worked in a real estate advisory firm for 6 years that specialized in assisting property owners appeal their taxes/assessments.)

 

[paysensmom]

Any house we have ever lived in had a much lower tax appraisal than our purchase price.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

Wow. We've owned 4 homes in the last 16 yrs, and they have always adjusted the tax value to purchase price, always. I can't imagine how a municipality could ever balance its budget if it consistently undervalued homes for tax purposes. That would be crazy.

 

[TRICKY_TINK]

Like a pp said. Your monthly payment should not be going up. The payment your making if you escrowed your taxes should be for the amount you paid not the amount the previous owner paid. I say confirm that your payment will be changing or not and let us know. I hope you purchased a home below your means so you could have a cushion in case of a lost job or yearly tax increases if not I fear you'll be in a tight situation whenever anything unforeseen comes up.

 

[paysensmom]

Our payment IS going up. It is going from 1444.48 to 1560
We even got a statement from the bank saying our escrow would be low

Of course we can pay it. We werent one of "them". We planned and purchased a house we could afford. My husband is in the Navy so we don't need to worry about job layoffs. I'm not saying we CANT pay the higher payment. I was just hoping we could appeal and not have to pay so much more.

 

[Handbag Lady]

Our payment IS going up. It is going from 1444.48 to 1560
We even got a statement from the bank saying our escrow would be low

Of course we can pay it. We werent one of "them". We planned and purchased a house we could afford. My husband is in the Navy so we don't need to worry about job layoffs. I'm not saying we CANT pay the higher payment. I was just hoping we could appeal and not have to pay so much more.

Your payment is still $440 less than my rent. Maybe that helps you?

 

[CyndiLooWho]

Our payment IS going up. It is going from 1444.48 to 1560
We even got a statement from the bank saying our escrow would be low

Of course we can pay it. We werent one of "them". We planned and purchased a house we could afford. My husband is in the Navy so we don't need to worry about job layoffs. I'm not saying we CANT pay the higher payment. I was just hoping we could appeal and not have to pay so much more.

Is it just related to the prop taxes or are other things going up, too? Our escrow adj has always been in the $10-50 range (one year, it went DOWN!), and it was usually due to increases in homeowner's insurance. With our last home, the ins almost doubled from year one to year five.

You should also check to see how much is related to new laws. With all the mortgage problems around these days, all the rules are changing, and the escrow minimums may have changed as well.

I do really feel for you; having your payment go up like that when you have a fixed rate mortgage and good credit has to be galling. And with no raises and bonuses this year, I have to admit, it would be hard for us to adapt to a $100 payment hike , too.

 

[lastminutemom]

Given that you just purchased your house, I really hope that the answer to this question is NO. Do you think your house is worth less than what the city has appraised it at? It is possible, given the current market conditions, that your house is worth less then what you paid for it. If that is the case, then appeal, if not, you have no grounds for an appeal.

Where we live, it can take years for the appraisals to catch up to purchases, so I know that when it happens faster the purchaser is often surprised.

 

[corndog]

You are asking for trouble (or at least what would be trouble in your eyes).

 

[paysensmom]

You are asking for trouble (or at least what would be trouble in your eyes).

What does that mean?

 

[LizinSTL]

We got our tax appraisal. It stated that our house apreciated over 18,000 for this year from last

I know the appraisal for tax assessment is different than the appraisal when you buy a house.

I filled out the form and took it to the tax office to appeal.
They told me to bring in my settlement form from when we purchased the house since we just bought it in June of 08'
Well, it is WAY higher than their appraisal and I think they know that.

What can I do? This tax increase is raising my payment by 100 dollars per month

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Surely there's another cost increase at play here. *unless your property tax rate is 7%*

Property tax rates are weird in my state. We pay 6-7% of 19% of appraised value.

 

[LizinSTL]

Our payment IS going up. It is going from 1444.48 to 1560
We even got a statement from the bank saying our escrow would be low

Of course we can pay it. We werent one of "them". We planned and purchased a house we could afford. My husband is in the Navy so we don't need to worry about job layoffs. I'm not saying we CANT pay the higher payment. I was just hoping we could appeal and not have to pay so much more.

Is this your end of the year escrow statement? So you have shortage and they are addressing the shortage AND making sure you don't have one next year? That makes a bit more sense (your prop tax increasing $600ish/ year.)

If this is the case, then your mortgage company essentially floated you a loan w/ no interest for last year's expenses (you didn't have enough in escrow to cover them) and they want to make sure they don't have to do that again so they'll ask for a higher escrow amount for the future.

 

[paysensmom]

I am not sure about what the increase is. I just know on the appraisal paper we got. Our house went up in value OVER 18,000 dollars

 

[HayGan]

Surely there's another cost increase at play here. *unless your property tax rate is 7%*

Property tax rates are weird in my state. We pay 6-7% of 19% of appraised value.

What is likely occuring is the mortgage company is uping the OPs escrow withholdings to cover not only the new tax rates but the shortage that was caused by the new assessment versus the old when it came to the taxes due.

Assessment calculations vary from area to area. The rate (or millage) applied to the value is dependent upon the municipality. Some taxing authorities will base their assessments on a percentage of a certain year's tax base. This is done in order to avoid a very costly reassessment of all properties within the taxable area (municipality/ county or whatever.)

OP - once again, since you purchased your house so recently, I would be very leary about challenging the assessment board on the new assessment (since you said it is lower than what you paid for the home.) In many jurisdictions, once an appeal is open the assessment board can even raise the assessed value if the evidence suggests such a change is warranted. Unless you can prove (via an appraisal which you would be resposnsible for paying for) that you home has in fact decreased in value since it was purchased you don't really have any grounds for an appeal of the new assessment.